Question I thought of a few days ago. . .

There was some doubt in the book as to whether or not Arabella Figg was really a Squib. The Wizengamot (particularly Cornelius Fudge) seemed to be under the impression that she was a Muggle in whom Dumbledore had confided all the secrets of the wizarding world. Dumbledore, on the other hand, maintained that she was indeed a squib.

What is everybody else's opinion? Was Dumbledore using a poor old muggle woman in order to further the needs of himself, the order, and the magical community as a whole (in which case, Arabella Figg was doubtless a very good actress). Or was she genuinely a squib (and a rather odd one at that ).

Mrs. Figg tells Harry that she's a Squib (can't give you the page numbers, I was listening to the audio book) - and I'll take her word for it - she's a lot more trustworthy than most of the people in the Ministry (there are some exceptions, such as Arthur Weasley - but by and large the Ministry personnel are awful.)

Yes, and I understand that. . . but let's face it, Cornelius' suspicions were not completely unwarranted. Her description of a Dementor sounds like it came right out of a textbook. Dumbledore was known to use people for his own means in the past, and one might think that the ministry would have had some sort of contact with her or her family prior to this incident. If she is indeed a Squib, it means that she came from a magical family. . . a family which was likely to have contact with the ministry. Why then, has Cornelius and the Wizengamot never heard of her before.

I would suspect it's because Squibs like to keep their status under wraps. The fact that Filch is a Squib is a big revelation within the books. I think I've read an interview somewhere where Rowling confirms Mrs. Figg's status as a Squib, but also says that she never actually saw the dementors. Let me see if I can find it.

*after a few failed searches* Aha! It was originally posted on the old version of J.K. Rowling's website (which is now defunct) but I was able to find an archived version of it here:

Squibs [like Mrs. Figg] would not be able to attend Hogwarts as students. They are often doomed to a rather sad kind of half-life (yes, you should be feeling sorry for Filch), as their parentage often means that they will be exposed to, if not immersed in, the wizarding community, but can never truly join it. Sometimes they find a way to fit in; Filch has carved himself a niche at Hogwarts and Arabella Figg operates as Dumbledore’s liaison between the magical and Muggle worlds. Neither of these characters can perform magic (Filch’s Kwikspell course never worked), but they still function within the wizarding world because they have access to certain magical objects and creatures that can help them (Arabella Figg does a roaring trade in cross-bred cats and Kneazles, and if you don‘t know what a Kneazle is yet, shame on you). Incidentally, Arabella Figg never saw the Dementors that attacked Harry and Dudley, but she had enough magical knowledge to identify correctly the sensations they created in the alleyway.

Thanks for clearing that up, shastastwin. I had never read or heard that before. I guess it puts the argument to bed

I think I would rather be a muggle than a squib. At least being a muggle you are unlikely to know of the magical world, so won't be jealous.

That's an interesting observation, IloveFauns. It really comes down to the question whether it is better to live in blissful ignorance, or enlightened struggling.

I think I'd rather be a squib, because they'd still have access to the knowledge of the magical world, the creatures, the people, etc.... Muggles are just out of the loop

Sorry, I think I'd prefer to be whatever I am. The point about the differences between the Wizarding World and the Muggle Muddledom is that both sides discriminate against each other, even if the Muggles are in the majority, and the Wizards have traditionally had the worst of it.

Muggle children who have the ability to become wizards could be victimised by their Muggle relatives such as the Dursleys or Tobias Snape. They could also be victimised by passing muggle bullies as well as by anti-magic community attitudes. The likes of Hermione Granger or Lily Evans, whose magical ability entitled them to go to Hogwarts, were also victimised by the likes of Draco and Lucius Malfoy, by Severus Snape's cronies and by other followers of the Death Eater pure-blood philosophy of Voldemort, himself the unwanted offspring of a Muggle and a Witch. Even terms like 'Mudblood', the more neutral Muggle-Born, Half-blood, Pure-blood, or 'Squib' say a lot about discriminatory attitudes, don't they?

Squibs, the untalented offspring of Wizards, have the ignominy of 'not measuring up', of being considered 'dunces', and of being marginalised by their families. Forced to go to ordinary schools, they might also be bullied there for appearing 'odd'. Poor Argus Filch, who, like Arabella Figg, was a squib, certainly was embittered against the general Hogwarts student body, even though he could use magical cleaning products and had a worthwhile relationship with Mrs Norris, his trusty feline shadow. Umbridge, who possibly was unaware of his status as a squib, as well as Snape, seemed to get along well with him.

JK Rowling had also commented about this intolerance which she wanted to oppose on her original site. Although that seems to have gone, I expect to be able to retrieve some info from Accio Quote or from the Bloomsbury Webchat from July 2007 which could also be found here, at Bloomsbury's site. I, myself, used JKR's original site extensively when writing essays for Leaky Lounge's Scribbulus.

At the beginning of Order of the phoenix, in Chapter 1, we learn a bit about Arabella Figg. It seems Arabella Figg could live comfortably even in Petunia Dursley's snobbish neighbourhood, where she kept an eye on Harry on Dumbledore's orders, even minding him sometimes. Arabella said she couldn't be too nice to Harry or Uncle Vernon would smell a rat. The Ministry was trying to discredit Harry at his later trial, including Arabella Figg's brave testimony, so they were bound to make the most of Mrs Figg's status as a squib. Otherwise they would have to do something about Voldemort. And yes, it was a Ministry official that had sent the Dementors to Little Whingeing in the first place, though this isn't made much of a point of in the film of the book.

Having seen the latest movie this season (Hobbit) does anyone who have seen it kind of notice a certain resemblance between Ministry denials of Voldemort's return and ?

I would hate going to a muggle being a squib school be afraid i might blab something when i am not suppose to and confuse both worlds. I recently re watched all the harry potter movies, my favorite has go to be the goblet of fire. To be honest I don't truly know why.

I was listening to The Order of the Phoenix and a question popped into my head.

When they are cleaning the Sirius' house - they think they've found a boggart, but they want Moody to check it with his magical eye first before they try to get rid of it - in case it isn't a boggart. Moody looks in with his magical eye. So, does he see the boggart in it's natural state? Or did the boggart somehow sense the magical eye looking at him and assumed the form of his biggest fear. I would think that he saw it in it's natural state - and if he did, then did he ever share the discription with anyone?

I've always wondered about this as well, but I came to the opposite conclusion. I guessed that Moody saw his worst fear in the closet. What would scared that war-hardened man, I don't know. . . but whatever it was, he sure kept a level head about himself.

Actually, Moody tends to be on the paranoid side - which is why Barty Jr. was able to replace him so easily. No one was surprised by his odd behavior because that was how the real Moody acted. I understand why he was paranoid, but the previous war left him more scared than probably any of the other characters (which made him always ready for a fight). I think that everyone else just adopted his paranoid tendencies after Voldimort's return.

Good to know I'm not the only one that has wondered about what he saw in the closet. (Sometimes, I think I think too much )

Digging this thread out of the past by asking a question.

A few months ago, there was an editorial on Mugglenet.com about how dementors breed. We're told in HBP that the weather is so bad because the dementors are breeding again, but we're never quite told any details about this.

I've never really thought of dementors having a gender before, which makes reproduction by normal methods impossible. Some members suggested a "queen bee" hypothesis, in which there is a queen dementor (positioned in Azkaban) who is fed by other dementors, and who in turn, churns out other dementors. I don't like this hypothesis either.

My thought on dementor reproduction is that they mitose. That is to say, they consume so much pain, evil and darkness that they can no longer exist as a single entity. When this "critical mass" point is reached, they simply split into two equal parts, each going their own way.

Anybody have any other thoughts on this?

DiGs, that theory sounds plausible. I'm pretty sure in the books or in an interview, dementors are said to breed in depressive conditions. I think I always visualized this as something like the depression and pain they caused led to new dementors being formed from the negative emotions themselves. Thus, they would also die out without these emotions to create and sustain them.

I don't like the queen bee theory. It doesn't match what is said about them in the books well enough.

Your mitose theory is brilliant and quite plausible in the content of the series. It's great the Rowling used her very real struggles with depression in her stories to create memorable 'monsters' and to help overcome her depression (or rather, work through it).